1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reaction apparatus for a biochemical examination, designed to supply a reagent appropriately to a support medium such as cellulose acetate film, agarose, agar, or polyacrylamide gel, in an electrophoresis method for biochemical examinations and researches in which a sample for analysis, such as serum protein, isozyme or lipoprotein, is caused to migrate through the support medium, a reagent is reacted with the sample, and the resulting substance is measured.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the past, the supply of a reagent to a support medium in the above-mentioned electrophoresis method was performed in the following two manners:
The first method is to supply, by means of, say, a pipette 1, drops of a reagent dissolved before use to the entire surface of an electrophoresed support medium 2, as shown in FIG. 1, allow this reagent to be absorbed to the support medium 2 for a certain period of time, and then remove the excess reagent by applying a glass rod 3 or the like, as shown in FIG. 2.
The second method is to supply, by means of, say, a pipette 1, drops of a reagent dissolved before use to an impregnation membrane 4 such as a filter paper or cellulose acetate membrane, as shown in FIG. 3, allow the reagent to be absorbed thereto, and bring this reagent-impregnated membrane 4 into close contact with an electrophoresed support medium 2, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.
After the reagent has been absorbed to the support medium, the reaction is performed in an incubator.
With the method of supplying drops of the reagent to the entire surface of the support medium as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, however, it is difficult to absorb a predetermined amount of the reagent to the support medium with good reproducibility, and a high grade of operating skill is required, thus resulting in a poor efficiency. With this method, moreover, the sample tends to solve out from the support medium when the excess reagent on the support medium is removed. Once it has solved out, the resulting reaction patterns may blur at the contour, or overlap neighboring patterns, making assay often impossible.
With the method of closely contacting the reagent-impregnated membrane with the support medium as shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, on the other hand, it is difficult to absorb the reagent from the impregnated membrane to the support medium with good reproducibility, and the procedure involved is complicated. Furthermore, the reaction product formed in the support medium may move to the impregnation membrane, impairing the clarity of reaction patterns.